Short one! I slowed up on my movie binging as summer drew to a close, but here are six more titles I can talk about.
Clueless
Here's one of those movies I'd seen bits and pieces of without ever seeing the whole thing start to finish. I liked it just fine. Whenever a fictional character is spoiled, rich, and ignorant about the world around her, it's very easy to make that character entirely unlikable. In Clueless, Alicia Silverstone manages to do the opposite by finding all the right ways to portray Cher as an earnest and well-meaning valley girl who just doesn't know any better. (She's, um, "clueless.") It's the type of movie that could have only been made in the '90s - which is impressive, since it's apparently based on a Jane Austen novel.
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2
I never meant to watch the first one, but I ended up enjoying it just fine after Trev put it on in the Cape this past summer. When I found this sequel on Netflix a few weeks ago, it seemed like the perfect low-stakes movie to pop on in the background while I played something on my 3DS. And it was! Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 wasn't quite as charming and enjoyable as its predecessor thanks to a few dozen animals-as-food puns, but it was harmless enough. What more do you want?
Primer
I've been at least moderately interested in Primer ever since this xkcd comic. It's an ultra-low budget time traveling movie from 2004 that's developed a bit of a cult following through the years. It was easy enough to follow for about an hour and change, but then different timelines started looping back on each other and everything went to shit. I've been assured that nobody understands the movie during their first viewing, which is kind of cool. This feels like the type of movie I'd have watched five or six times back in high school. And it came out when I was in high school! Where was I for that one? At any rate, I probably won't watch Primer again any time soon, but I did spend at least as long reading about it on the Internet as I did watching it. Take that for what it's worth!
Mad Max: Fury Road
I had no interest in this movie until basically every review under the sun called it the best action movie in years. They weren't wrong! As a general rule, action movies tend to bore me - not because the action itself is boring, but because the movies are so damn predictable. Mad Max: Fury Road was no less predictable than a lot of other action movies, but man, did the action itself make up for any unoriginality the plot was burdened with. I really, really enjoyed this movie - just like everybody else.
The Spectacular Now
Perhaps most notable for being the subject of Roger Ebert's last published review, The Spectacular Now was a teen rom-com based on a novel. I really liked it! It was made by the same guy who directed (500) Days of Summer and it took everything good from that movie while ditching some of the overly twee undertones. This wasn't a movie that aspired to connect with trendy young cool kids; this was just a very believable movie about a couple of kids. Watching it, I was reminded of what it was like to be in high school. Life in front of you, down for whatever, no real capability to comprehend any type of bigger picture... this took me back.
Taxi Driver
Robert De Niro was awesome in this one. And so young! And there's very little for me to say about such an all time classic film like this one. Sadly, I just can't seem to get into these older movies the way I'd like to. I respect the hell out of Scorsese's legacy and all, but there's just a dated look and feel to these movies from the 1970s. Once cameras got smaller and cheaper and you could shoot scenes from a dozen different angles, movies were better off for it. I mean, this movie is only ten years younger than The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Now that's an old movie! The industry has come a long way since then, is all.
Anyway, like I said, quick one this time around. I'll be back with more soon enough.
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